Huud [IMG4R]has overcome the limitations of low budgets to craft a number of effective scores for Miramax/Dimension Films features, direct-to-video terror tales, and cable television documentaries. He operates his own recording studio in Hollywood where he composes and experiments in a variety of musical styles and techniques. His work has covered feature films, television series and specials, documentaries, commercials, art exhibits, and multi-media events. Additionally, Huud is a permanent addition to the Smithsonian Institutes music archives listed under The Art of Illusion. His music can be heard on Discovery channels "Movie Magic" as well as Discovery International's on going television series, Jean-Michelle Cousteau's "Stories of the Sea".

Terry Huud began his career in television in 1994, scoring episodes of television series like the Discovery Channel's MOVIE MAGIC, a documentary show about movie special effects, and the Jean-Michelle Cousteau nature series STORIES OF THE SEA. But it's his work in horror films that has tended to surpass this work, at least in view of its availability, albeit in limited form, on CD, and give Huud a rep as a "horror composer."

Despite the danger of pigeonholing, it's a classification for which Huud definitely seems to have an affinity. He scored LAIR OF THE SHE WOLF, DEMON'S KISS, CHILDREN OF THE CORN: ISAAC'S RETURN, and recently THE MUMMY'S KISS.

"Well, I love horror pictures, don't get me wrong," Huud replies defensively. "I love everything about them, actually, but I think it's the same 'ole same 'ole story of getting stereotyped to a degree. After MOVIE MAGIC the producers decided to get their feet wet in the horror picture biz and produced PORTRAIT IN RED. They hired me and after that, one horror picture after another were showing up at my door, with some television mixed in between."

What do horror films need, in terms of music?  What works for Huud when he's composing a horror show? What doesn't? "It depends on the film," Huud says. "Like any other film in any other genre, its needs are specific to the filmmakers' desires. The direction that the filmmakers are going in will determine the stylistic approach of the music. Some pictures need a gothic feel, others a more modern feel. If the picture is a spoof on the genre, like THE BACK LOT MURDERS [which Huud scored in 2001], the score will incorporate comedic elements and tend to not take itself so seriously. Some horror films (like THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT) do well without any music at all."

Huud's music tends to remain tonal and based on melody and orchestral ambience, even when dabbing in the horror genre. Even his scores for vampires and werewolves remain distinctive efforts.

While film music is often constructed during last stage of a film's post-production, Huud likes to get involved early in the production of the film in order to begin formulating musical ideas. "I prefer reading the script first, and that initial reading is what seeds my musical ideas," he says. "After I've read the script I sit down and start writing the first things to come to my mind."

Like most composers, Huud recognizes the need for his music to be subservient to the needs of the film for which it is composed. On the one hand, composers by their creative nature hope to compose music that will be regarded as effective music in its own right. On the other hand, film composers need to recognize that their music, just as any other element of the collaborative effort of making a film, must foremost be a device to enhance dramatic story and visual elements.

"When I started scoring THE EROTIC RITES OF COUNTESS DRACULA [aka SCARLET COUNTESS] for the same producers who did THE MUMMY'S KISS," says Huud, "I read the script and began writing "Reverend Jacinto's Theme" (played by Paul Naschy). I had this really nice Spanish guitar in his theme and when I played it against picture the guitar just didn't work but the strings and choir were great. So we cut out the guitar and I ended up with a less exciting piece but one that served the picture better. Composers should be devoted to the picture and not to the soundtrack audience. We are after all writing music to the film and if does not serve the image in all the right places then we have failed. Of course it would be great if everything written also stood alone but due to the mechanics of film making it just isn't 100% possible." 


COUNTESS DRACULA, LAIR OF THE SHEWOLF, [IMG2L]and MUMMY'S KISS draw from a rich history of vampire, werewolf and mummy lore and legendry in horror film history including a rich heritage of associated film music, It was Huud's effort to create something fresh and provide a film score hat would offer something new rather than retreading the same clawed ground that previous films had. "MUMMY'S KISS was fun," Huud recalls. "Don Glut is a fun director and has a true love for the horror genre. He pretty much lets me do what I want although he is a huge fan of classic Hammer horror so he does try and pull me in the James Bernard direction quite often."

On MUMMY'S KISS, Huud wanted to do a Mummy soundtrack that had classic elements in it but still mix in some elements that were different. "The love theme has a Celtic feel with a Celtic vocal," says Huud. "Julie Murphy's voice is awesome. I layered some mandolin and then pads and synth to make it a little more modern. But overall the score is Karloff Mummy-like and I think it served the film well. For COUNTESS DRACULA, Don asked me to do James Bernard for the opening credits, since Fred Olan Rey edited the main titles to James Bernards' DRACULA HAS RISEN FROM THE GRAVE. So it was fun putting in all those big brass minor hits and swirls and then segueing to a lyrical love theme."

Even in the world of low-budget, direct-to-video film scoring, the quandary of temp tracks raises its pointed little head. These are temporary musical edits used during post-production to liven up the film as it's being edited and make it more effective when shown to producers or test screenings. While MUMMY'S KISS had no temp track, Huud has often faced that demon on several other films including some that had his own music used on the temp score. "Even I am shocked at that!" Huud laughs. "My music from CHILDREN OF THE CORN: ISAAC'S RETURN or BACK LOT MURDERS comes up from time to time. Once I think I heard several cuts from an album of mine that was released a few years back Penumbrae: OPUS 2 used in a temp score. While I am flattered that someone would put my stuff into a rough-cut picture I almost always think it's just so inappropriate. I mean, yes we composers are very close to the pieces we write for specific scenes for specific films and that tends to make us have a difficult time seeing these pieces put up against other images but I mean sometimes the temp just makes you ask, 'why on earth would they do that there?'"

As his career has grown, so has the budgets he has had to work with. "If the budget is too low, the film is not worth doing," Huud says. "I wont do films today that I did a few years back if they have incredibly small budgets. The only way to survive in this business on small budgets is to get in and get out quick, and believe me if a composer can't spend at least 5-6 weeks scoring a picture then he's turning out junk and he's doing the film a huge disservice. I've been talking to some Hollywood composer friends like John Ottman and Jason Nyberg and we decided that it would be great if we could all put our feet down and totally shut out pictures that want the score done in three weeks. But it's hard every time I'm on a film the filmmakers are trying to make the closest film festival circuit and they'll say, 'well can you have it in 4 weeks? Sundance is right around the corner you know....'"

Huud's latest project is a futuristic sci-fi thriller called 1.0 [One point Zero]. The film, produced by Armada Pictures, stars Jeremy Sisto, Deborah Unger, Lance Henriksen and Udo Kier. Huud was asked to demo his music for the project by editor Troy Takaki. "Troy is a great fan of my work and I of his," says Huud. "It was very uncomfortable at first for me to get involved. I was not the directors' choice nor was I the producers'. But Troy told them my scores tend to be artistically twisted and this film fits that mold. Troy told the people at Armada Pictures that he just couldn't imagine anyone else doing it and satisfying both directors (Jeff Renfroe and Marteinn Sorenson) and the producers at Armada. Sometimes that can be the hardest part of the work, trying to keep both camps satisfied while not offending one or the other."

Huud, along with 3 other composers, turned in demos Huud's demo won him the job. "In this business you have to look for allies on the production team and allow them to help support you and your ideas," he says. His strongest ally on 1.0 was producer Chris Sievernich. "But Chris was almost never around, always jetting back and forth from LA to Germany, so at the beginning I felt a bit isolated," Huud says. "My main task was to convince the directors that I was not there to ruin there film but to make it the best it could possibly be. The picture had a test screening at Raleigh Studios with only temp music in it and people were all coming out saying how good it looked. The production began introducing others to me saying I was about to score it. They would look at me and say, 'Wow!!! Well give it a great score because it deserves it!'  Hah - the pressure was on!"  


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After about a week into scoring 1.0, one of the producers would come over to Huud's studio and listen to what he had written. The producer would give it a thumbs up or thumbs down, and Huud would go off again and write. "Then a week later one of the directors would show up, throw everything out, and I would be  back to square one!" Hudd moans. "I wrote this really cool love theme that I thought was really good, but the directors said it was too much. I had it arranged for every scene it was going to appear in. "Less is more for this picture" they would say. So you have to become totally detached and chuck what you've done and start over. After a couple of weeks of this we ironed out some things and now things are going well. When the directors saw that the music was serving a good purpose and helping gel all the plots and giving it a thematic feel  I saw smiles starting to creep in on their faces. These guys are mega-talented and this film is really good and the last thing I wanted was for them to feel the picture was being betrayed." 

The project has been rewarding for Huud his original three-week scheduled was doubled to a more manageable six weeks. "The music budget was excellent and I've been able to get live players involved," says Huud, who was in the midst of completing the film's final mix when we spoke. "One of the challenges of low budget filmmaking is definitely the short 10-day final mix. "There are so many elements to mix, since it falls into the futuristic sci-fiction genre. It's insane!  We have characters that don't speak straight dialogue but have their voices processed. We have music from top bands like 'Sigur-ros' being contracted for source cues. We have opticals that are still being done and scenes that I have not yet seen that have to be dropped in and scored. And less then seven days left!  It's crazy the director sits in the final mix at Universal Studios and edits processed dialogue while he supervises the mix and okays the opticals and sound effects. He also has a night job editing for television!  The only thing keeping this show going is passion!"

The pace can be grueling and the conditions not always optimum, but, as with most artists, the reward comes with the creative investment given to each film. "If you can remain focused and passionate about your work, it becomes just a little bit easier to get that to work for you and when it's 5 AM and you still have a cue to finish by 8 AM and you're starting to drag," Huud says, knowingly. "Hopefully that passion will carry you through and some of it (if not most!) will end up in the picture and make it that much more special!"